Maurizio Arrivabene says Kimi Raikkonen's future at Ferrari will ultimately be decided by the firm's president Sergio Marchionne.

Maurizio Arrivabene says he won't make the final decision on whether Kimi Raikkonen will stay with Ferrari next season, but insists the team is in no rush to determine his future either way.

Despite an improved start to the 2015 season relative to last year, Raikkonen remains under pressure to perform in relation to new team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who has been consistently the stronger of the two drivers after eight races.

Now 48 points behind Vettel after his crash out of the Austrian Grand Prix, Raikkonen's future has once again been called into question, but Arrivabene insists his chances of staying with Ferrari next season remains dependent on more factors than individual races.

"It is not a question of today or yesterday... of course you have a deadline and I am not going to tell you when the deadline is, but it is an overall view that is conducting our decision," he said. "I was talking about performance. Performance means a holistic approach, how is he dealing with the engineers, how is he working with the engineers, how is he getting points, how he is getting on, how he speaks, how it is working out - many, many, many things and now it is early to tell him something or to decide something.

"We are not even at the halfway point of the season. Try to be in my position and to go to Kimi, for example, to say either you are out or you are in or whatever. I want the guys to be concentrated on what they are doing today and to give us the maximum."

Regardless, Arrivabene says that while his opinion will be taken into account, the ultimate decision will still fall to Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne.

"I will suggest my point of view and then we need to talk to the President to make the final decision. In the normal world, normal companies work like this. If you are the President you can do whatever you want. If you are not, you have to share your decision to get the approval."